Annealing Emmaline
by Lillith Nocturne
Summary: Emmaline Hutchison doesn't deal with people. As a 7th year during the final battle, she watched Tonks die blocking her from the killing curse. She feels indebted to everyone, especially Remus. Can this broken Ravenclaw be fixed? RL/OC angsty/postDH/AU
1. Memorials, Returns, Avoidances

**_AN: I'm not abandoning, I'm adding. I like having a plethora of things to dabble in when things get a bit boring with the others. It allows for a renewed vigor when I return to the other works. Anyway, this one came to be a while ago and I've been piecing things together about it and writing like mad. After I found the original Gryffindor Nightmare, which I'm refurbishing with a new OC and some new occurances, I decided to give this some well deserved attention and here we are._**

**_IT NEEDS A TITLE, PM OR COMMENT YOUR SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE!!!_**

**_Anyway, like I said, this has been bouncing around for a while. Kind of a what if this, what if that, what if he lived, what if she died, what if it happened because of this, kind of story that put its whole being together slowing at first. Then I gave it a bit of attention and it ran with it. Go figure. But like I said, I'm not giving up. On this laptop I have five stories open constantly and I bounce about if I'm feeling ambitions. Most of the time, I'm going through, picking one, and devoting hours and hours to it, when I can get that kind of time. Enough of my babbling, go ahead and read it. _**

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It had been three years since the Great War fought on the grounds of Hogwarts. Witches and wizards everywhere were just coming around to having their lives back in order. The occasional reminder of the terrible happenings of that time still cropped up every so often. A Dark Lord sympathizer showed up now and then, murdering or maiming some in a psychotic and pointless attempt at swearing allegiance to a force nonexistence. Harry Potter was doing his best at repairing and rebuilding his relationship with Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were keeping private with them and were obviously building their own relationship. Remus Lupin had gone into hiding after his wife was killed by her own aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange and hadn't been seen since the one year memorial that Minerva McGonagall had held inside the very walls the war had shaken. The memorial became the annual way for everyone affected to gather and reflect, to prevent such things from occurring again.

The Great Hall was stark and dimly lit this year, as all before it, and in the back, by the very spot she'd nearly been killed, stood the shivering frame of Emmaline Hutchison. Her class was the class of brave and resourceful wizards that had done much to fight the war. She had retrieved the crystal balls that Trelawney had thrown at attackers below and later she had petrified a Death Eater that was about to Avada Molly Weasley, who had her back turned in duel with another masked figure. No sooner had she fired off the hex then she heard Tonks yell a warning and turned to see Bellatrix Lestrange sneering at her. Bellatrix cast Avada at her and Emmaline closed her eyes, curling herself into a ball but nothing happened. As Emmaline slowly uncurled herself, she looked up to see Tonks, lifeless on the floor, and Bellatrix cackling as she turned to aim at Ginny Weasley. Molly caught sight and that was the end of Bellatrix. Emmaline crawled towards Tonks, doing all she could to shake her awake, and had to be dragged away in a fit of tears by two others as Remus Lupin rushed to take her place at the side of his fallen bride.

"That is why, friends, we come here today." Minerva's voice cracked. "We are here to remember not only those we fought along side, or to remember those who saved us or whose lives we saved but also to remember why so that it may never happen again." She finished, bowing her head. Everyone dropped their head and Emmaline was no different. She felt her chest tighten in remembering how someone she had barely known had fallen for her and she had done so little to repay her memory for it.

"Emmaline, hello." Luna Lovegood's soft voice said kindly. "How are you?"

"Same as always, I suppose." Emmaline sighed, not even attempting a weak smile. Luna smiled softly and patted her on the shoulder. "Doing what I can to keep the bookstore in the black."

"I've been meaning to stop by." Luna said, eyes lighting as they always did when she remembered or was interested in something. "Someone mentioned that you actually got a book on nargles."

"I did, indeed." Emmaline smiled weakly. "A few on hyper-intelligent imps, gnomes, and pixies, as well."

"I'll definitely be in sometime this week, then." Luna beamed, patting Emmaline on the shoulder and linking arms with her fiancé. "Bye."

"Bye." Emmaline sighed, waving slightly and remaining seated. She nodded as a few others passed by. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione stopped for a moment to briefly say hello, knowing that Emmaline was still bordering on breaking completely over feeling that it was she that should have died.

No one had ever really paid much attention to the quiet Ravenclaw girl but they knew that she existed only because she had surpassed Hermione in Muggle Studies and Potions and matched her on all others. Emmaline attributed her good marks to spending absolutely no time with anything or anyone that wasn't bound and filled with pages. The only time she spoke was in class and the only student she spoke to at all was Luna Lovegood, almost always about the next issue of The Quibbler. After the war everyone had watched her turn inward, buy Obscurus Books, and completely ignore the requests that she teach at Hogwarts after a bit of training. Emmaline had closed herself up in her shop, made herself a small living area upstairs, and refused to leave unless there wasn't a bite to eat in the house and she was near starving or to perform some act involving a customer or supplies.

Finally, Emmaline shuffled out of the Great Hall after stopping at the spot Tonks had fallen and she took the path to a spot just off Hogwarts grounds so as to apparate, and then made her way to her store. She was one of the last few to arrive back at Diagon Alley, which like most of the wizarding areas had shut down completely for the memorial. She said the proper charms to unlock her shop and relished in the dark and the dusty scent. She enjoyed her reclusive life. For three years she taught herself that books were all she needed. It wasn't a hard lesson to learn being that it was books that she had clung to so intensely before that, as well.

"Morning, Emmaline." Sybil Trelawney smiled quickly as she bumbled cautiously through the door. Emmaline inconspicuously waved her wand to reinforce all the stacks of books to keep the accident prone woman from taking down her store.

"Morning, Professor Trelawney, what can I do for you?" Emmaline asked, stepping from behind the small counter at the back and walking over to help the woman.

"I was looking for a book on Middle American mystic traditions of crystal ball use." Trelawney said, sifting through her bag for something. She produced a slip of paper with scribbles on its face and made a quiet sound of victory. "Ha, here. Paulo Psimente." She nodded, crudely stuffing the paper back into her purse and following Emmaline into the many stacks. Everyone knew that Emmaline had a firm grasp on where everything was in her store. Similar to the way that Ollivander knew the right wand for everyone, Emmaline could be told a subject, an author, a title, or any combination of the three and would find it for you in less than ten minutes, which was quite a feat with the stacks and piles and shelves of seemingly randomly organized books.

"Ah, here we are, right area." Emmaline said under her breath, climbing up three shelves and blowing dust from the edge. "Psimente, Psimente…" she mumbled as she glanced around. "Hmmm…" She flipped through and her brows furrowed. "Ah, here we are. The Crystalline Orbs of Ancestry?" she asked. Trelawney nodded gratefully, taking the book and hugging it in appreciation.

"Oh, thank you so much. You've no idea how hard this is to find. It's out of print everywhere but Guatemala." Trelawney sighed happily as she flipped through the book. "Oh, it's signed by the author!" she beamed as Emmaline climbed down and headed towards the till.

"That'll be 3 galleons, 5 sickles." Emmaline smiled. Trelawney handed her five galleons, waving off the change. "I can't keep it, Professor." She said, flattered.

"Just never you mind, girl." Trelawney smiled. "Extra for the autograph." She smiled, nodding as she turned to leave and completely engrossed in her book. Emmaline sighed, deciding to tackle the stacks of books and make an attempt to put away the perpetually growing stock before she had another customer. She gave a quick wave of her wand and sent things off to find their places amongst the clutter. After sorting two of about fifteen piles, she heard her door open again.

"Be right up!" she called, shoving a rather large book on top of a shelf rather than finding a place for it and letting herself drop onto the ground. She jogged to the front of the store and stopped abruptly when she saw who'd entered. Remus Lupin had taken to browsing a few of the shelves as he waited. "Hello. What are you doing here?" she asked, body stiff.

"Hello, Emmaline." He smiled softly. "I'm staying with everyone at the Weasley's and since I had to make a trip in for some supplies for my wolfsbane, Hermione asked that I pick up her book order."

"Er, yes, I have it under the counter here." Emmaline mumbled, hefting the large box onto the counter and shrinking it for him. She couldn't help but stare at him as he resumed his glancing around the shelves.

"Could you recommend any good books?" he asked brightly. Emmaline opened her mouth to speak but couldn't think far enough away from the fact that she felt like she should be erupting in apologies every time she looked at him.

"Too many to choose from." She managed to reply. Remus chuckled and nodded.

"I suppose for someone that runs a book store that much is to be expected, yes?" he smiled warmly. His smile faded slightly when he noticed that she was staring at him wide eyed, looking near to uncomfortable explosion. "So was I right to hear that you got a book on nargles?" He persisted, hoping she'd say something other than the bare minimum of replies. He received a short nod and she pointed to an unsorted pile of books.

"I've one on reserve for Luna so you're more than welcome to that one if you'd like it." Emmaline forced herself to say, still looking frightened and nervous. Remus's smile grew again and he nodded, picking it up and tucking it under his arm. Hermione was right; he thought to himself, this girl desperately needed some kind of closure with what happened to her. He grabbed a book of poetry written entirely by Werewolves and Vampires and made his way to the counter.

"Seven galleons, six sickles, twelve knuts." Emmaline said mechanically. Remus pulled his sack of money out, never losing his smile as he handed the money over.

"Better head back." Remus sighed, nodding his goodbye. "Being voluntarily missing for two years often makes friends angry if they haven't been notified." He added with a bit of defeat in his voice.

"So it would seem." Emmaline nodded, wringing her hands behind her back as she watched with great anticipation as he inched towards the door. "Thanks for stopping by."

Remus nodded once again in defeat and closed the door behind him, causing Emmaline to let out a great sigh of relief. She hated herself even more, knowing he felt bad that she was still so greatly affected by what had happened and that he had tried to make things better for her, despite the fact that it was his wife that had died. Emmaline slapped herself in the forehead and trudged to the back, hoping to the powers that be that a stack of books might just drop from a high shelf and end all this unpleasantness once and for all.

"Three years later, I'm still moping so much that the one that really should be moping feels the need to be nice to me." Emmaline chastised herself as she started to manually put out and shelf the books. "Not as if I deserve any kind of mourning period like this. He lost his wife. I was an immature child that thought I could make any sort of difference and nearly got myself killed. Instead, I got his wife killed. By all merit the man should hate me and I've made him feel bad." She rambled on at herself.

Finally she heard the grandfather clock at the front of the store chime its eight chimes and she climbed down the stacks so as to close everything up. She made her way out to the counter to clear out her till to deposit the money in Gringotts the next morning. Sitting neatly in the center of the counter was Hermione Grangers still shrunken box of ordered books. She had been so nervous that she hadn't given him the box and now she'd have to deliver them herself. She thought for a moment and remembered that Remus said everyone would be at the Weasley's house and with a great sigh she locked up her shop, shoved the box into her pocket and apparated just outside their home. The warm light filtering from the windows made her feel as if she was an intruder only by looking at the ramshackle cottage. With great reluctance, she pushed open the gate and marched up the path, giving a stern knock on the door.

"Emmaline, hello, what brings you out here? Do come in, have a drink, come dear, do." Molly Weasley gushed as she pulled Emmaline in by the arm.

"Really, I'm just here to drop off Hermione's package. Remus stopped by but I must have forgotten to give it to him." She explained as Molly dragged her towards the kitchen which was alive with chattering voices. As soon as she stepped into the doorway the sound dimmed and everyone glanced at her. Once they'd noticed who it was, the sound level raised back to normal and the clinking of silverware on plates commenced.

"Hermione, dear." Molly smiled, nodding her head towards Emmaline and then returning to her seat next to her husband.

"I brought your order. I must have forgotten to give it to Remus when he came in today." Emmaline explained, taking the shrunken package from her pocket and handing it over to the shorter girl before her. Hermione smiled warmly and tucked the box into her pocket, nodding in thanks.

"Oh, I really appreciate it." She beamed. "Won't you come in and have dinner? There is actually plenty of room down between Harry and Remus I think, and you're more than welcome." Hermione baited. Emmaline blushed and hung her head.

"I couldn't impose." She shook her head. "No, I'd best be back to my flat. I've got a kneazle to feed and a few letters to send." She explained quickly. Hermione didn't do much to hide the frown but nodded in acceptance.

"Alright." She said simply. "Some other time, then. You'll have to come over for dinner with Ron and me at our new place." She offered. Emmaline nodded and waved her goodbyes to everyone before getting out as quickly as possible.

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**So, you've met Emmaline. I hope you get the feel for her that I'm hoping is avaiable for the getting in this chapter. lol Please review. I'd really appreciate knowing how you feel about this one. It's really important to me. Hell, flame it if you want to. lol Anyway. If you don't even want to tell me what you think then just give me a title suggestion. Must appreciated. **

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	2. Muffins, Muggle Movies, Molly's Trap

**_AN: First off, I would love to thank aryla for helping me with the title. Thanks to those of you that reviewed and that suggested a title. I can't thank the reviewers enough for actually reviewing, but I'll try: Thank you X a million + 1, nope, not enough. Sorry lol Anyway, here is chapter two. I worked uber hard. Its weird to me that Emmaline talks to Edgar but I totally can't help it. She has to talk to someone and I guess it has to be Edgar. I do like how she's turning out in the writing though. She ain't perfect but I don't think she's overly flawed to the point of making me hate her. She isn't a weepy, whiney character, which I'm working really hard to keep it that way, by the way. Cookies to all my readers, cookies and milk to my reviewers, and cookies, milk, diamonds, and a trophy to aryla for the title assistance. I guess I'll let you read now since I have writing to do for school and on American Aurors and Werewolves -shameless plug for other stories- lol Love you, my lovelies!_**

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"Edgar, where are you?" Emmaline called to her kneazle as she walked up the stairs to her flat. She tucked the book under her arms and caught Edgar as he leapt from a shelf into her arms. She lovingly scratched behind his almost floppy, large ears. Edgar nuzzled sweetly into her neck and took a spot on her shoulder, wrapping around her neck comfortably. Emmaline trudged into her kitchen, taking out a can of kneazle food and a packet of kneazle dry food and put out Edgar's food. She grabbed her parchment of orders and made to fill them as there were only three that needed to be done by the end of the week. "Care to help me address these, Edgar, darling?" she asked, casting a glance at the fluffy, caramel colored creature beside her on the floor. Edgar looked up for a second, glancing at the paper and then at his owner before returning to his bowl without any response. "Perfectly, alright, dear, you don't have thumbs or a wand."

After she summoned the books from downstairs, she neatly wrapped them in her store's signature blue crinkled paper and bronze twine. She carried the packages to her mini owlery and chose the three fastest owls of the five that she had. Giving them all treats, she left the windows open, gave them strict orders to return by noon tomorrow if they left, and then closed the door. Edgar pawed her leg, a signal that he wanted to be picked up.

"Shall we go and read or would you like to watch a muggle movie?" she asked, remembering that on a walk through muggle London she had picked up a few movies. Edgar snuggled in her arms, curling almost like a baby and keeping one paw on her chest, nails hooked into her shirt. "Charming, sweet heart." She chuckled as she headed off to her bedroom. Despite the fact that she didn't have cable, which was impossible to get here in Diagon Alley, she had managed to get a working television and DVD player, which she was at first fascinated with and was now absolutely hooked on.

She laid down on her stomach on her bed, Edgar moving to her back and perching on her shoulders as she did so. She pulled out a slightly scratched, obvious favorite copy of the black and white movie 'Sabrina' and placed it in the player, pulling a blanket that Hannah Abbot had made for her and given to her on one of her visits with Neville Longbottom to find rare muggle botany books and rare herbology books. She smiled inwardly that her customers tried to look after as much as she tried to look after them. Then she frowned slightly, feeling almost like the Phantom that hid away in the theater, doing what he could for the one he loved. The analogy left her mind as the music of the movie started. Edgar pawed his way under the blanket, popping his head out after he came to a rest snuggled against her side.

"Edgar," Emmaline yawned heartily as she stared at the screen, "you are all I need, darling. Good night." She said; awake long enough to feel Edgar rub his face into her side and then slipping off to sleep, as was tradition.

The next morning, Emmaline showered and dressed quickly. She wore a pair of stiff, pleated black pants, a dull green shirt and a black button up cardigan. Being a Saturday, she opened early and let Edgar run around the shop as he pleased. By noon, she had no customers and had found that putting away all the stacks wasn't quite the task she had previously assumed. With a clean shop, and nothing more to do for the day but wait for customers, Emmaline summoned a book, opened the window for owls to drop off orders, and sat down on her favorite musty, red chair. She put on her reading glasses and set to tackling the most recent edition of 'Alchemy: Amalgamations of Amplitude.' Edgar stared at her for a moment, happy that she took the clue and pulled her legs up which gave him a cozy place to lie in her lap. She was no more than three pages in when she heard the bell above her door chime.

"Afternoon." Molly Weasley beamed kindly, walking to the counter and placing a picnic basket down. Emmaline's eyebrows knitted in a furrow as she slowly approached the red headed woman before her. Molly pulled the thin looking cloth in Gryffindor colors back to reveal that the basket was full of muffins and bread rolls. "You didn't stay for dinner so I thought I'd bring you in some baked goods. I thought you looked a bit peckish."

"Er, thank you, Molly." Emmaline forced a smile, taking a muffin and examining it.

"I have it on good authority that you're rather fond of dragonberry and apple cinnamon muffins." Molly smiled kindly, taking off her gloves and shoving them into the pockets of her tan tweed coat. Emmaline nodded and placed the muffin back into the basket.

"Thank you very much, Molly." Emmaline smiled.

"Not at all, dear." She said kindly, pinching Emmaline's cheek and then glancing around the store in wonder. "You've finally tackled all those books I see. It looks wonderful in here. Could use a bit more light, I'd say." She said as she walked around. Edgar perched himself on the counter and watched the woman with great interest, obviously still trying to figure out the enigma that is Molly Weasley.

"I like it this way." Emmaline said as firmly as she could manage. Molly nodded, letting it go uncharacteristically quickly. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Actually, yes." Molly nodded as she walked back to the counter. Edgar leapt onto Emmaline's shoulder, watching Molly with great interest. "I wanted to order a few muggle books for Arthur, for his Christmas present. Emmaline nodded and pulled out a list of what she had to offer in the ways of muggle books. "A fix-things-alone book or whatever it's called."

"Do-it-yourself." Emmaline corrected her absently as she flipped through. "There are three that I have, would you like to choose?"

"I think I'll take all three, dear." Molly beamed. "How much will it be?"

"Seven galleons, two sickles." Emmaline smiled. "You want them delivered or will you pick them up?" she asked. Molly looked thoughtful for a moment, biting her lip and furrowing her brows. Emmaline hadn't assumed it would be that much of a difficult decision but for a woman with as many children as she had, she assumed that there was probably some kind of reason that Molly was being strategic about it.

"I'll send someone for them." Molly nodded, looking pleased with her decision. Emmaline nodded, made a note of everything, and handed Molly her receipt.

"They ought to be ready by tomorrow. Should I gift wrap them or would you prefer them in the regular wrapping?" Emmaline asked. "I can also do your house colors or your favorite colors."

"The regular is fine, dear." Molly smiled, slipping her gloves back on and correcting her hat.

"Alright, just send someone in tomorrow. I'd say they'd be done today but I believe that one of the books is actually in the cellar in the rarest of the rare books box. Muggle books are so hard to find." Emmaline smiled. Molly waved her off and smiled.

"Perfectly alright, dear, perfectly alright." She smiled. "Someone will be here tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye, Molly." Emmaline waved, sighing as she closed the door. She sat out a muffin for Edgar and scratched his head. "I'll be right back, darling, I'm going to go look for that book. You guard the till." She nodded, chuckling to see Edgar knock the muffin over, step on it to smash the contents out, and pick through the soft center. "Keep out of the rest and I'll give you another later." She smiled, placing the 'back in a jiff' sign on the window and heading down to the cellar.

After an hour and a half of searching, she finally found the book at the bottom of one of the boxes shoved to the very back of the room. She waved her wand and smiled in content as the cobwebs and dust cleared from her clothes and hair instantly. Edgar was as she left him in the counter but he had taken to batting the muffin cup paper around and chasing it as it flew. As soon as he heard her he grabbed it in his mouth and jumped onto the counter, holding it out for her.

"Thank you, Edgar." She smiled, tossing it into the bin beside her chair. She waved her wand to take the 'back in a jiff' sign off the door and took a seat behind the counter. She grabbed Edgar's brush and called him to her lap to clean him up. He arched his back against it and she chuckled. "You always were a sucker for getting all dolled up, weren't you?" He purred and brushed up against her and she put the brush away.

"Do you usually talk to your cat?" Emmaline heard a soft voice ask. She looked up to see Luna smiling at her from the other side of the counter. "I guess you didn't hear me come in?"

"No, but you certainly gave me a scare for a moment." Emmaline chuckled, placing Edgar on the floor and bending to get the books she'd held back for Luna from below the counter. "Here we are. 'Nargles: Myth or Legend', 'Genius Creatures of the Wizarding Wild' and 'Not So Impish Imps, Not So Bumbling Gnomes and Not So Pathetic Pixies'." Emmaline smiled, sliding the books over to Luna. Luna clapped her hands and immediately examined the books in wonder.

"Oh, that is so lovely. I can't believe that you actually got these." She almost squealed. "Every other book store claims that no one that views themselves as respectable would carry them and here you are. This is wonderful." Luna gushed, hugging the books tight to herself.

"Well, I don't believe in denying any bits of literature their chance to reach their audience." Emmaline shrugged.

"What do I owe you?" Luna beamed, pulling out her sack of money. Emmaline added things up quickly.

"Eight galleons, four sickles, and six knuts." Emmaline replied, taking the money as Luna handed it and placing it in the till. "You let me know if there is anything else by those authors that you might want because I found a way to reach them directly and get their books rather more quickly than I'd normally be able." She advised. Luna nodded, still examining the covers with love as she left. "Always nice to see a happy customer, isn't it, Edgar?" she asked the kneazle at her feet. Edgar yawned and let out a bored meow of agreement before trotting to the overstuffed red chair in the corner and settling in for a nap.

The rest of the day trudged on slowly with no other customers coming in. At eight, Emmaline closed up shop and walked slowly amongst the aisles of shelves to find the rest of Molly Weasley's order. With everything closed, Emmaline went at a leisurely pace, getting all three books together and heading upstairs by ten.

"Come on, Edgar, time for dinner." Emmaline called. Edgar rushed up the stairs and waited at the door at the top patiently. Emmaline pushed it open, allowing Edgar in first, and headed straight for the kitchen. She sat out his food and made herself a plate of left over chicken and dumplings. "Three days until Christmas." She mumbled as she passed the calendar. "What would you like, Edgar, a sweater or some chewy mice treats?" she asked. Edgar gave her a quick look before returning to his dinner. "Mice treats it is, darling." She said before tucking into her own dinner.

Once she'd finished eating she set the dishes to washing themselves and checked the owls to make sure they hadn't brought any orders to the wrong place. Once satisfied that they hadn't, she fed them, opened their window and left them for the night with orders to be back by Monday. Edgar waited patiently for her to finish her work as he sat on the corner of the table. Emmaline sat on the floor, carefully and neatly wrapping Molly's order. Once finished, she tied the twine in a simple bow, placed the package on the table, and headed off to bed. Edgar followed, leaping into bed first and curling up on his pillow. Emmaline covered him with the blanket and they both feel asleep quickly.

Being a Sunday, Emmaline slept in until ten a.m., happy at the extra rest. Edgar gave her a passing glance before crawling under the blankets and going back to sleep. Emmaline laughed at headed down stairs. She would only have the place open until four today being a lazy Sunday, and then she'd head to Galahad's Groceries and a few other shops to stock up on dwindling supplies for home. After a refreshing shower, she tied her hair back in a loose bun, put on her favorite green sweater, a pair of loose and comfortable black pants and headed downstairs to open things up, Molly's package in hand. As she passed the old record player she had in the corner, she flicked her wand and let the Christmas music begin to fill the store. The sound of Celestina Warbeck brightly singing 'God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs' quickly brought a smile to Emmaline's face as she bustled around the store charming up some last minute Christmas decorations. She heard the bell above her door chime.

"Merry Christmas." She said brightly, using her wand to charm the ceiling to look as if it was snowing. She turned to see Remus Lupin staring in wonder around the store and her smile faded a bit as her body stiffened. "How can I help you?" she asked mechanically, kicking herself for being so bright and cheerful today.

"They've sent me in again to pick things up." Remus laughed, catching her eyes with his own. "I did need to come in and get a few things for myself, though." Emmaline looked down immediately and walked over to the counter. "Molly told me you had a kneazle here yesterday, do you raise them?" he asked, persistent about trying to hold a conversation with her.

"No, just Edgar." She forced a smile. Remus nodded, leaning against the counter and glancing around the shop appreciatively.

"You did a great job decorating." He said quietly, turning back and hoping she'd look him in the eye again but finding that she was busying herself with lists and bits of parchment. "How are you spending Christmas this year?"

"Oh, I'll be here at the shop." She said absently, hoping that if she didn't engage him, he'd get bored and leave her be. She glanced up to see that he was frowning openly and looked as though he thought that her plans just wouldn't do. "I've no better plans, really. I enjoy spending time here. I'll make a small ham, Edgar and I will have dinner, then we'll settle in and I'll either read or we'll watch a muggle movie."

"Don't you get lonely?" Remus asked in honest curiosity. Emmaline's brows furrowed in confusion as she shook her head, still never quite meeting his eyes.

"Why would I get lonely? I enjoy the solitude." Emmaline answered flatly, shrugging and finally straightening her papers to her own satisfaction.

"I think you should come spent Christmas at the Burrow." Remus said resolutely. Emmaline gaped at him, in a panic as to what she should say. She wasn't sure she could turn him down but the idea of spending a family oriented holiday with him was enough to petrify her into a stupor.

"Er, I don't know." She shook her head. "I don't like leaving Edgar for that long." Remus gave her a look that said he wasn't going to back down and she felt immensely bad that he was making him feel as though he should actually care what her holiday was like. "Besides, I'm going to have the shop open on Christmas." She added. Remus sighed in defeat and nodded.

"Alright then, but if you change your mind." He smiled. Emmaline nodded, wringing her hands and keeping her head down. He took the package from the counter and then paused. "Emmaline, wouldn't you please come spend Christmas with us? Bring Edgar, have the shop closed for the day, but I think everyone would really appreciate it if you came. I hope to see you there." He said sweetly, looking as if he didn't assume she would show up, and them marched out the door looking sad. Emmaline gaped after him and sighed heavily.

"Bloody hell." She mumbled to herself, promptly flopping into the chair behind her and placing her head into her hands. "Now I feel even more guilty." She whined, knowing that because of it, she would have to go or else face the mental image of Remus Lupin looking sad and disappointed. She figured she'd done enough to make his life miserable, not showing up to the Weasley's bloody Christmas Bonanza would add insult to injury. "Where is that damn cat carrier…?" she sighed, flicking her wand to close the shop early and headed off to buy her groceries and other things. If she was going to subject herself to Christmas with people, she'd need time for mental preparation.

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**I hope this turned out as well as I think it did. I have so much fun writing the back-and-forth between her and the cat. I know that Remus is in it at a minimum at the moment, but bear with me. I don't want this going too fast because then it won't be realistic. If you have anything to suggest, say, complain about, praise, rant over, or anything you might want to see or expressly hope not to see, I welcome it all. Just put it in a review or even a PM if you totally hate people knowing that you like reading this. lol I don't know. I just want to hear from you. Feedback is the mother of improvement, necessity is the mother of invention, and reviews are the mother of my heart. lol It's 8 am, do not expect normalcy lol.**

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	3. Christmas, Charades, Edgar Vs Jekyll

**_AN: Finals are over! The holiday is done! That means, mine lovliest of all lovelies, my reader dearies, that until January 20th, I shall be at the disposal of Microsoft Word 2003 and all of you wonderful people. I hope to update all my fics at least twice, ambitious, I know, but given this past semester: a tast I feel confident that I shall be able to accomplish. Anyway, I won't keep you because BBC News is on, I'm tired, my head hurts, and I would very much like a cigarette before bed. Ah, but as always, I don't own anything but Emmaline Hutchison and this lovely plot. I don't own Charades, nor do I own and of the titles other than the fictional book. If you like my references, they are few and far between but I shall assume that more will appear later. Never, ever, will you have to deal with Lolita again, as it will at most become an inside joke or an insult to our poor little Emmaline. Ahem. On with the show._**

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Christmas snuck up on Emmaline rather quickly and she was absolutely furious with it for doing so. Having owled Molly about what time she need show up, she began getting ready at noon, an hour before she was expected. She felt at least mildly relieved that she was not expected to bring gifts and that no one was expected to gift her and with that one bit to comfort her, she set about getting ready to spend the day as an agoraphobic in the house of a boisterous Irish family and their pseudo-adoptive children. After a record five minute shower, Emmaline wand dried her hair and put on her favorite pair of black pants, a green shirt and a rather nice red cardigan, what she considered the formal version of her normal clothing choice. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and realized that it was the first time she'd actually taken a good look at herself since the Great War, during which she had taken to staring at herself in the mirror simply because she just didn't know how much longer she had left with each and every flaw and asset.

The memories brought a small frown to her thin, pale lips and a sigh escaped from between them as she tousled her dull, shoulder length, auburn waves. She bit her lip and tried to decide whether to pull the hair back, which would reveal the widows peak that she so despised, or let her hair down and be self conscious of it because it wasn't something she was used to. Finally, she shook her head and tied it back in a neat bun, as usual, and further examined her appearance. Her steely, dull, large, almond shaped blue eyes scrutinized everything in the mirror like a hawk over prey and when she realized that even if she wanted to make herself look better, which she wasn't entirely sure she cared that much or not at the moment, that doing so was entirely out of her capabilities. Edgar swirled at her feet, purring in appreciation as he looked up at Emmaline.

"I'll take that as a compliment, darling." She smiled as she bent to pick him up. "Do you mind the carrier or should I just carry you? I know we've apparated just fine together before but I do worry about what it does to you, Edgar, dear." She said, holding him out in front of her and examining him for a reaction. He mewed as he stared at her and Emmaline sighed in defeat. "Alright, darling, I'll just hold you. Never you mind that stinky old box." She sighed, holding him tight as she apparated just inside the Weasley's front gate. Before she could knock, the door swung open to reveal Harry Potter, Santa hat nearly covering one eye and a glass of spiked eggnog in hand.

"Emmaline, come on in." he beamed, motioning her through the door. "Merry Christmas, would you like a drink?" he asked. Emmaline, eyes wide, shook her head vigorously.

"Er, no, thank you." Emmaline said with a forced smile. Harry nodded, clapping her on the back lightly but pushing her farther into the house nonetheless. She and Edgar clutched tightly to one another, eyes wide as they walked through the living room towards the kitchen which seemed near bursting with laughter and people talking over one another. She hadn't even crossed the threshold and felt totally accosted by the cheerful voices and welcoming calls of everyone that had managed to cram themselves into the room. Remus smiled warmly for her and nodded when he caught his eyes, starting into a rather merry round of 'Have Yourself a Merry Muggle Christmas' with George, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and a very drunken Arthur, who was concentrating hard on singing and not falling out of his chair.

"Come on in, dear. Have a seat." Molly smiled warmly, looking about to burst with joy. "I'll fix you a plate. Let Edgar go and he can play with Crookshanks, Hermione's cat." She smiled. Edgar and Emmaline exchanged a look before separating. He licked his paw and examined Crookshanks appraisingly before seeming content and interacting with his new playmate.

"Er, thank you very much, Molly." Emmaline smiled, blushing furiously at the kindness and taking a seat between Percy and Remus, nervous and near the stage of twitching. Molly placed Emmaline's generous plate of food before her and it became clear that everyone had waited for her to arrive before they ate. She bowed her head and felt a twinge of guilt, waiting for Molly to take her seat so she might have a viable excuse for not speaking as much as would be expected. She glanced around to see that everyone else had tucked in and decided that it was okay if she did, too.

"So, Emmaline, how are things going at the book store?" Hermione asked with interest. Emmaline covered her mouth to swallow and bowed her head a bit.

"Going wonderfully, thank you for asking." She replied politely. "I've started getting more muggle literature and am planning on devoting half the store to it, being that certain people are so interested." She added.

"That should be fascinating." Hermione answered. "I've always missed being able to find good muggle books. It gets a bit tiring to constantly read about magical creatures when I mostly live in the muggle world, now."

"We aim to please." Emmaline smiled, happy to hear she was going to be helping people, even in such a trivial way. "I did just find a few very old copies of collections of muggle fairy tales. However, I also sort of felt it would be a good thing to keep people educated on muggles, so I've got racks of muggle school books, as well." Emmaline explained. "Education and literature paves the road from ignorance to that of acceptance." Hermione seemed to swell pride and Emmaline bowed her head once again, blushing furiously and feeling just that much more uncomfortable.

"The only book I care about is that steaming pile that Rita Skeeter wrote about Dumbledore." Ron explained. "I was glad to hear they stopped production on that particular bit of literature." Emmaline nodded furiously.

"I agree completely." She said with voice full of emotion. She hadn't noticed people looking at her with eyes wide in surprise. "That is the only book I refuse to carry and I was so glad to hear that the former owners wouldn't carry it either. I won't even carry any of the books written on Harry after the war ended."

"Thank you, Emmaline." Harry smiled warmly, taking Ginny's hand under the table and giving it a squeeze.

"I figure, with all you had to go through, that you deserved as much." Emmaline said quietly, bowing her head again once she realized that she was opening up just a bit. Her shoulders folded back in slightly and her voice went back to its usual barely audible decibel. Those around her noticed and allowed her to retreat again to ensure that she was comfortable. Once they had finished eating, Emmaline followed the large clan of people, hanging back a little, into the rather spacious living room and took a seat on the torn and patched arm chair that Arthur offered her before he stumbled to the loveseat he would obviously share with his wife.

"I'll pass out the gifts, Mum." Bill said as Molly was heading towards the messily decorated tree covered in handmade ornaments. He waved his wand, separating them into piles and began levitating the stacks around accordingly. Emmaline frowned to herself to see two individually wrapped packages land neatly at her feet, both without tags. She bent slowly, glancing around to see everyone tearing into their gifts and thanking everyone. Emmaline tucked her finger under the edge of the wrapping paper, glancing around once more before she opened it slowly. Inside the paper was a rather rare copy of an old book that Emmaline hadn't been able to find to save her own life, called 'Songs of Sorceress' that hadn't been in print since Lady Jane Grey's nine day rule. Emmaline gaped at the ancient book of song-spells and felt her heart ache to thank whom ever had bought or found this book for her.

"Who is this from?" she asked, almost in tears. All the heads whipped around to look at her and all gave her a look of confusion. Ron shrugged.

"Santa?" he chuckled. Emmaline stared at him blankly before turning back to her book.

"Who ever it was that gave this to me, I cannot thank you enough." Emmaline said quietly, wiping away a tear before slipping her thumb carefully under the edge of the paper on the other package. She was completely unaware that the only one still watching her was Remus. He grinned in seeing the huge smile spread across her face when she realized the other package was a DVD of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. "Thank you." She said quietly, sure that no one heard her. Remus turned quickly back to his gifts and nodded in thanks to everyone. He was caught off guard to see Emmaline's cat rub against his leg then jump into his lap.

"Hello, there." Remus chuckled warmly, scratching the animal behind the ears. He was surprised as it circled his lap before curling up comfortably.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Emmaline apologized, making to stand. "Edgar, you leave him alone." She chastised. Remus waved her off, still petting him.

"He's fine. I rather like him." He smiled. Edgar cast a look Emmaline's way before laying his head back down to go to sleep. "Very sweet little thing, isn't he?" Remus said fondly.

"He has his moments." Emmaline answered, smiling apologetically. Edgar opened his eyes long enough to give her a look before he snuggled in closer and drifted off back to sleep.

"Well, everyone, I think I'm going to haul Arthur here to bed and get him comfortable." Molly chuckled as her husband swayed, beaming at everyone. She rolled her eyes and tucked an arm under his to support him as they made their way towards the stairs. Emmaline took that as a queue to leave and sighed happily as she tucked her gifts away into her purse.

"I suppose I should be on my way, then." She smiled softly, happy to have had the opportunity to spend an only mildly awkward day with such nice people. Remus reached out to protest.

"No, Emmaline, stay." Harry gestured to the couch. "Come, have a seat, we'll play a game or talk." Everyone nodded vehemently in agreement, watching her expectantly.

"Absolutely, you must stay. Christmas is no time to be alone." Remus said reasonably, patting the couch next to him. Emmaline swallowed the lump in her throat and wrung her hands as she took a seat. She kept her head down. Edgar leapt into her lap and kept close as he eyed the others in the room. "What shall we play, then?"

"Charades?" Hermione offered and instantly blanched at the look of offense she received. "Well, what then?"

"Why don't we play…" Harry thought to himself, tapping his chin in attempt to bring something to mind as his eyes searched the room. "Twenty questions?"

"Charades it is." Ron said, face scrunched in disgust at his best friend. "Twenty questions? Honestly, Harry."

"Does someone have a hat we can use?" Hermione asked. Ginny summoned her father's top hat, waving off her mother's yelps of protest as she slammed closed their bedroom door. "Everyone write down a person, place, thing, movie, book, anything like that." She instructed in typical Hermione fashion. Ron wrapped an arm around he waist, pulling her closer to him and kissing her temple through all the hair.

"Yes, 'Mione, we may have played this before." He said lovingly. Hermione shot him a glare as she crossed her arms. Once everyone had selected a few things and tossed them into the hat, they set on deciding teams. Ginny and Harry paired off wordlessly, as then Ron and Hermione did. Emmaline cast a wide eyed stare at Remus, who smiled an unflinching and pleasant smile as he scooted a bit closer.

"Guess you're on my team. That should mean we'll win." Remus beamed warmly. Emmaline gave a curt not, staring straight at Harry as he stood up, pulled something from the hat, and made a smug smile. He made to open his mouth but Ginny mashed his toes with her fist, causing him to frown.

"No words, its charades." She said as if he were dense. Harry frowned deeper and sneered at her before making the proper movements to signal that it was a movie.

"Movie, obviously." Ron said impatiently, rolling his arms to signal Harry move on. Harry's arms went out straight and all expression drained from his face. His only sound was a guttural groan. Emmaline snickered to herself. Everyone shot her a glance and she kept quiet as it was her clue. Remus's eyes narrowed slightly in thought.

"What is he, an inferi?" Ginny asked in confusion. Even Hermione looked perplexed. Harry looked at his girlfriend desperately before returning to his act. He looked dumbfounded as to how to act out one part but tapped his ear to signal 'sounds like', which Ron mumbled loud enough for everyone else to hear. Harry leaped across the room, tapping the lamp.

"Lamp? Bulb? Light?" Remus asked. Harry dove at the last word. "Sounds like 'light'…? Might? Sight? Night?" Again, Harry dove at the last word and Remus's eyes lit. "Ah! 'Night of the Living Dead'!"

"Yes!" Harry gasped. Everyone but Remus turned to gape for a moment at Emmaline, who was still snickering privately to herself. "I have never in my life heard of that movie." He sighed heavily, flopping onto the floor next to Ginny. Emmaline opened her mouth to reply that it was her most favorite of horror movies before Remus piped in.

"It's really a classic." He nodded certainly. "I highly recommend it as a date movie, not too scary, but scary enough to warrant the proper closeness." He smirked slightly. The couples leaned in closer together, Remus smiled fondly, and Emmaline showed a renewed immense interest in the kneazle in her lap. Edgar purred at her as he rolled onto his back for her to scratch his tummy.

"Well, Emmaline, that was your clue so it's your turn to go." Hermione reminded.

Emmaline stood with a barely audible sigh and stuck her hand into the hat as if a rattlesnake or perhaps an asp, she thought poetically, would possibly be waiting to bite her. The sharpest thing to stick her was the neatly folded edge of a piece of parchment. She tugged it out quickly, steadying the hat, and carefully unfolding the paper. She tucked the stray piece of hair behind her ear as she stared at it, disbelieving.

What humorless bastard, she thought to herself, would hate her enough to throw 'Lolita' into the hat?

With a deep sigh, she shook out her limbs like any good actress and tried to play the part. She quickly gave the signal that it was a movie and waved it off as soon as they said it. Her chin dropped slightly and she batter her eyelashes, hoping to God none of them would laugh at her. Everyone stared, obviously waiting for her to continue. Edgar cocked his head to the side.

Traitor, Emmaline thought mutinously.

She slowly shook her arms out again, kept batting her eyes, and let a shoulder drop seductively as she swung her hips slightly. The effect, obviously not one she was used to, served more to confused her audience than anything but at least the culprit was found out. Hermione buried her face between her knees and shook with silent laughter. Ron, Harry, Ginny and Remus stared, four mouths gaping open. She looked at them pleadingly before returning to her performance of the slutty, sad little tramp from 'Lolita', this time trying to make herself more youthful and more of a whore, which was something Emmaline never assumed she might have to combine. She thought she saw the slightest flicker of realization in Remus's eyes but it left quickly and was clouded by confusion once again.

"L-'Lolita'?" he finally croaked in confusion. Emmaline crumpled in relief.

"Gods, that was painful." Emmaline sighed heavily, sauntering to the couch and taking a seat. "What finally did it: the rusty hip swivels or the drooping shoulder?"

"The whole thing; you looked like you were impersonating a five year old hooker." Remus laughed. Emmaline frowned slightly.

"I suppose, given the circumstances that should be a compliment." She sighed. "Your turn." Remus nodded and stuck his hand in as he stood, flipping open the paper with a smug air of confidence that everyone in the room knew was something he'd stolen from his best friend. A smirk spread slowly across his face as he mimicked someone reading a book.

"Book." Emmaline said simply. Remus nodded and paused to plan just how he would accomplish his feat. The smirk returned full force as he placed a hand on his heart, a smile of warmth on his face. Ginny ducked her head, a smile playing in her lips. Remus's expression changed slowly to that of something lecherous and evil as he ambled towards Emmaline slowly and menacingly. Almost instantly, his face was warm and kind again as he continued his path, dropping to his knees at her feet, looking torn and apologetic in the most sincere way. Then, for the last time, his face looked threatening and evil. Edgar hissed, leaping at the face of the man threatening Emmaline and himself. Remus shrieked and Emmaline grabbed Edgar as quickly and gently as she could, handing him to Hermione.

"Well, Dr. Jekyll, are you alright?" she asked bravely. Remus couldn't help but laugh and roll his eyes, touching his face and winching. "You show me where there might be a wash cloth and I'll do my best to undo what Edgar as done." She sighed apologetically, turning quickly to follow him to the bathroom down the hall. Remus sat down on a stool in front of the bathtub, crossing his arms and trying to be as good natured as his newly scratched face would allow. It was a might hard to smile kindly with little claw marks criss-crossing your face and knowing it was entirely your own fault they were there.

"I could manage this if you want to get back to the game." He sighed.

"Person!" came Harry's muffled cry from the living room. Emmaline smiled weakly.

"I doubt my literary clues are near as fun as more exciting ones might be." She sighed, dabbing his face gently. "I simply don't understand, Edgar has never turned on someone so quickly."

"I was threatening him and his owner." He replied reasonably. "I had it coming."

"Nonsense, he's kneazle." She said in distaste, shaking her head. Remus sighed and let it go at that, lacing his long fingers in his lap and sitting like a patient child as Emmaline spread some of the healing ointment Molly had tucked a good distance back in the rather magically extended medicine cabinet. "That should do you well in a few days. Bit passed date but that just means it'll take longer." She shrugged. "That alright, I could get some from my shop." She said reasonably. Remus shook his head.

"I'll survive a cat scratch." He chuckled. "I'm beginning to think it was the dog in me that upset him." Emmaline stared a moment and then placed the ointment back into the cabinet before she pulled herself onto the sink.

"If I were to ask you a question, would you answer it honestly?" she asked. "I mean," she started before he could reply. "I know it is pretty much a stretch for me to even be here in the same room, let alone the same house as you because I've gone totally bonkers for three years and this confidence is going to be so short lived so I can't imagine why I'm allowing myself to take so long, I suppose I think that if I keep talking, you'll get bored and walk away or-"

"Emmaline, I believe your original question was whether I would answer honestly if you were to asked me a question following that one and the answer is yes." Remus said kindly. Emmaline nodded quickly, eyes wide with fright and a brave feeling that Remus had to agree, would not hold out much longer given the current circumstances. "Go on." He pushed gently.

"Why on earth was I invited here?" she blurted, making it sound as if it was a long, strange word he'd never heard before. He sighed barely, knowing he should have expected the question from such a bright, suspicious witch such as the bookish shut in before him.

"You know why." His voice was low as he kept his tone and demeanor warm. The poor girl was shattered and he kept himself careful not to make this worse for her before she could heal and continue her life. Tonks would likely have flogged him green and black if he did anything to damage this already cracked vase before him. Emmaline watched him expectantly. "Because you needed someone this Christmas." He replied, raising his eyebrows as if to say he wanted no arguments. Emmaline's brows furrowed and it was the first time Remus knew what her face looked like angry. She slid off the counter and shook her head then the anger cleared from her face as guilt flashed for just a moment. Remus hung his head.

"I'm going to go grab Edgar and head home." She said in a quiet, curt, hurt, sad little voice. She clicked her tongue and half caught Edgar as he leapt towards her. With a soft crack, she was gone and Remus let out a sigh of heavily mixed disappointment, relief, and frustration.

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**_As always, I would greatly appreciate a few reviews. I honestly do hope to get some updates in before having to return to college. I know I get erratic in my visits and updates and for that I apologize. Such is the life of a college student, I suppose. Dean's List, away! -wibble- I certainly hope, at least._**


	4. Notes and Nosey Kneazles

_AN: I know it has taken me AY-JEZ to update anything. Life is a fickle whore. Anyway, not that you're terribly interested in what has kept me from my author duties it's school. I've a GPA to maintain and that is not conducive to creative writing of any kind, so I found out later. My only forays into anything enjoyable where Harry Potter and Doctor Who between Statistics assignments, exorbidently slide-padded powerpoints for Microbes and Society, and the general reading and paper writing that comes with college. Joyousness and rapture, I'm getting an education. Bah, anyway, I also have been working with the college's chapter of Habitat for Humanity and we went on a trip to build a home in New Mexico. By 'working with' I mean that I was drive-by-voted into the VP position, and the pre-emptively voted into the Prez position for next year. I digress, for this is not a blog, this is the latest installment in Annealing Emmaline. I know I'm a bit rusty but it DID get the ball rolling again. One cannot move forward unless that proverbial ball is moving with them. I'm rambling. Just read now. Thank you so so so so so so so so so much for coming back to me, readers, and having faith in me. _

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Emmaline wasn't entirely sure she'd ever truly felt angry, as mad as she'd been the past few days. The fact that she'd allowed herself to spend Christmas as a pity case had spread her anger around quite nicely, she thought bitterly as she jammed books into random crevices in the stately bookcases along the walls of her store. She pushed her glasses up her nose and let out an exasperated sigh as she pointed her wand at a rather large box of books and furrowed her brow.

"Levicorpus." She scorned it, as if the box had been the culprit all along. She floated it up to the very top of the shelf and slid it back, not feeling much like dealing with stock and inventory. For three days she had been beyond a state of anger into almost blind rage. Edgar mewed at her from the front counter, watching his human with great interest. "I must look a right mess, don't I, darling?" she said in a brief moment of warmth before levitating the second box and jamming it into a free spot next to the one before it. After feeling dissatisfied even with these acts of what amounted to violence in Emmaline's eyes, she skulked to the counter and fished from her bag a well worn copy of a muggle work of fiction titled 'Cell' by a rather accomplished writer named Stephen King of which Emmaline was becoming a fast fan. She was just three pages into reading before the bell above her shop's door rang. Emmaline waved her wand absentmindedly, causing the sign on the counter to rotate and flash 'The shop keep is reading, please do not disturb.'

"Er, Emmaline." Emmaline's eyes rolled up slowly to meet the eyes of Ron Weasley. Her brows furrowed in intense confusion. Ron was not, by any means, an unintelligent person. However, he was rarely seen in any book shop without Hermione within three or so feet of him.

"Good day, Ron, how can I help you?" she asked as politely as she possibly could. Ron dropped a package onto the counter and gave a slight nod.

"You forgot those from Christmas. Thought you'd need a few days to cool off, bye." He said quickly before turning on the spot and apparating. Emmaline sighed heavily, lips pursing as she untied the neat package to see the gifts she'd been given. Slipped inside the cover of 'Songs of the Sorceress' was a note in neat, masculine but wispy handwriting that read:

Emmaline:

I'm sorry to have upset you as much as I did.

I honestly did not assume that our reasoning

might anger you so much and for that I would

very much like to apologize. Please let me know

that this note found you and whether you would

like very much to have tea with an insensitive

old coot.

Respectfully,

Remus

Emmaline could not help her facial expressions. First she frowned. The she smiled a deep, warm smile. Then she frowned harder. Then her brows furrowed in anger, as she was still quite angry, and her lips expressed the second half of her complex emotional state by giving a sad smile. She was very much unable to decide how she wanted to handle this. What would she possibly wear to tea with a former teacher that made her angry, happy, and depressed all at the same time? How could she even allow herself to consider such prospects. She shot a glance at Edgar, who seemed to be reading the note over again over her shoulder. He gave a mew and looked up at her in a sense of understanding before nuzzling her arm.

"What would you do? Would you go to tea with him?" she asked desperately. Edgar stopped nuzzling her long enough to nudge the paper with his nose before nuzzling her again. "Really? You'd go?" she asked incredulously. Edgar stopped again. The look he gave her would speak nothing to anyone else but to Emmaline it screamed 'I've answered once, just take the answer.' "Alright, dear, you're the final voice of reason around here." She sighed in defeat before scratching behind his ears. She waved the 'lunch' sign, locked the door and headed up stairs for tea and a nice bowl of stew. Edgar knew this as well and was hot on her heels.

Emmaline pulled a bit of parchment from her box of scraps and stared at it, swirling the quill around the lip of the inkwell. She'd closed the shop up and was welcoming the darkness outside her windows with a slight yawn. She nudged up her glasses with her knuckles and continued her stare-down with the piece of parchment. Edgar watched her intently from the counter in front of her.

Remus,

She stared at his name and froze up. Edgar gave an encouraging mew and she sighed heavily as she touched quill to parchment again.

Stop by the shop.

"What a cute rhyme I've made." She glanced up at Edgar with a nervous smile. He stared at her without expression and gave a solemn mew. Emmaline sighed once again and turned back to the parchment.

Stop by the shop at lunch time on Friday and we'll have tea over lunch. I believe that I may have overreacted a touch.

For that I apologize.

Sincerely,

Emmaline

"Are you happy, Edgar?" she asked him. He replied by bending to clean his paw. "You are too smart for your own good."

Friday came quickly, and Emmaline noticed that days where she might see Remus had started to sneak up on her quite unkindly. She sat on the edge of her bed and stared at her closet, waking herself a full hour earlier than she normally would have to make sure that everything was in order. She tried to decide between the sea of dark-colored cardigans, dark colored jumpers, and dark colored pants that almost dared her to choose wrong. Finally deciding on a pair of grey pants and an emerald jumper, she made her way to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. She toted her rather large 'Proud Kneazle Mom' mug around with her as she double, triple, and then quadruple checked that her lunch of poached plimpy on salad only needed basic assembly. With that she rushed to the front desk to start her day. It did not take Emmaline long to lose herself in a book as the sparse customers usually cared for themselves.

At around 11:30, Edgar began rubbing Emmaline's leg quickly. She glanced away and shot him a look of confusion before catching the time. She flipped the sign and ran upstairs to septuple check everything. With nothing left to do she sat at her table and debated whether she was really willing to invite Remus into her home until she heard him coming up the stairs. Emmaline opened the door with a smile, fake or not, and motioned for him to come in.

"Thank you for having me, Emmaline." He said with a warm voice.

"Thank you for coming." She said automatically. Edgar brushed himself against Remus's leg before trotting over to his dish to wait patiently for his lunch. Emmaline gave him his ample servings of kneazle food. She washer her hands and placed the large bowl between herself and Remus at the table. "Tea?" she asked.

"White." He smiled. She nodded and served him his tea wordlessly. Still without speaking, she took a seat and served them both with salad. "Emmaline, I truly am sorry." Remus finally broke. Emmaline stared at him, in shock at his abruptness.

"No harm done." She said with eyes still wide in surprise. She shook herself from her daze and gave her best smile. "How is the salad?" she asked.

"Is this plimpy?" he asked slowly. Emmaline frowned.

"You're allergic." She sighed.

"No, not at all! I've just not had plimpy in quite a long time." He smiled brightly. "I wasn't aware that you were a fisher."

"I'm not." She said in a flat voice. Remus nodded quickly.

"Or that you could buy it." He added. "It's delicious. Best fish there is." He said good-naturedly. Emmaline gave a slow smile and continued eating. "You're so quiet and reserved, I didn't think you'd say yes, let alone have me over."

"It seemed like the right thing to do. To clear the air." She smiled back at him. "I was quite angry, if I'm to be honest."

"Understandably so." Remus said. His smile was apologetic and warm as he patted her hand with his own. Emmaline flushed down to her neck at the contact.

"I'm glad to see that your scratches are healing nicely." She managed to say.

Remus touched his face and blushed as well. He smiled kindly. "I had a good nurse."

"You're very kind to me." Emmaline blurted. Remus's eyebrows raised in surprise and his lips tugged into a bigger smile.

"I've no reason not to be kind to you." He chuckled incredulously. "I consider you a friend, Emmaline." Emmaline bit her tongue, literally, so as not to spoil the moment. "You're dwelling on things that none of us can change, Emmaline, and you're blaming yourself for things that were far beyond your control."

"You shouldn't be comforting me." She blurted. "It's selfish of me."

"You think that since it was my wife that gave her life to save you that you should be comforting me." Remus said casually. Emmaline gave a curt nod. "It's been three years and I spent those three years roaming about on my own to make peace with things. To be honest, Emmaline, I blamed you at first. But only at first and only because I was trying to heal. I realized quickly that I'd have done the same for you. Dora was a brave woman that made a choice. I won't say it doesn't still hurt me that she's gone but she didn't throw her life away for someone that wasn't worth saving." He explained passionately. Emmaline sniffled back her tears and wouldn't bring her eyes to meet his.

"Part of me knows all of this, Remus, but it's very hard to think I'm worth a human life." Emmaline shrugged.

"I think what you need is to spend more time with me. You keep yourself locked up here in the shop with Edgar. You need someone to talk to and I won't take no for an answer because I care about you." He said firmly. Emmaline blinked a few times and couldn't help but give a snort.

"What?" she asked incredulously.

"You need someone with similar interests to talk to and spend time with." Remus nodded.

"You're absolutely sure about that?" she asked reluctantly. Remus gave her a slight smile and nodded.

"We'll start tomorrow by meeting for lunch and then perhaps we'll go on a hike. Do you like to hike?" he asked as he finished his salad. Emmaline could only gape at him.

Finally she found words. "I… suppose hiking is…. Acceptable?" she mumbled what sounded more like a question than an answer.

"It's settled then." Remus said firmly. Emmaline noticed the time and sighed.

"I need to go re-open the shop." She hoped that this was enough to drive him away and give her time with her thoughts. Remus glanced at her black-cat wall clock and nodded.

"So it is." He smiled warmly. He stood and pulled out her chair. Emmaline's head was spinning and some part of her felt that she should be more angry at him while another part of her felt that this was really a good thing that would only benefit everyone in the long run. With a nagging feeling in her stomach and a headache coming on, she politely said her good-byes to Remus and took a seat behind the counter. Edgar hopped up to face her. Emmaline gave him a scowl.

"You are a very bad, very deceptive, very mean little kneazle." She groaned.

* * *

_ I could hug you all for making it this far. I give you cookies. Mine come two fandoms now: Bad Wolf, TARDIS, Nimbus, and Aragog. =)_


End file.
